Hanoi (VNS/VNA) -The 2018 Information Security Index of Vietnam was45.6 percent, a figure at average level, reported by Vietnam InformationSecurity Association (VNISA) in Hanoi on November 30.

Data from VNISA revealed the country’s information security indices were 47.4percent, 59.9 percent and 46.8 percent respectively in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The 2018 Vietnam Information Security Day conference under the theme “Cybersecurity for the age of artificial intelligence and smart devices” was hostedby the VNISA, in collaboration with the Authority of Information Security andthe Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team under the Ministry of Informationand Communications and the Command 86 under the Ministry of Defence.

Vietnam has about 350,000 IoT (Internet of Things) devices on the Internet,most of which are cameras and routers. More than 40 percent of those might beaffected by information security loopholes, said Nguyen Thanh Hung, DeputyMinister of information and communications.

Speaking at the conference, Hung said in the future, artificial intelligence(AI) and IoT would be two concepts which are always mentioned together.

"IoT generates huge amounts of data and AI helps analyse and processit."

Even though IoT promoted the digitisation of many industries, it posed securitythreats to new technology applications, he said.

Tools used to attack IoT devices were becoming more sophisticated, algorithmsused to attack and artificial intelligence (AI) would be increased in the levelof both attack and defence.

On the other hand, some of the terminal devices would become new targets,including refrigerators, robot vacuum cleaner, street lights orwatches.

According to Gartner’s report, more than 25 percent of the attacks are fromIoT-related companies by 2020.

"It is possible to see the risks in the coming time, in which maliciouscode will become smarter and the perfect environment for them is the network ofIoT devices," said Hung.

This would be a great challenge that State agencies, organisations, businessesand the community in Vietnam must pay attention to in order to avoid unexpectedconsequences, he said.

The Deputy Minister also noted that cyber security was a long-lasting war.

However, he also noted information security was a field that Vietnam could makestrides in comparison with other areas of science and technology.

Basically, information security was based on human resources, not too dependenton infrastructure.

One of the ways to enhance information security in Vietnam was to createstronger trust among the society, he said. Trust was the key to success in thefield of cyber security.

To promote the work to ensure cyber security, the deputy minister suggestedState agencies and social organisations pay more attention to the work,regularly updating knowledge and new technologies, while technical systems mustensure information safety and meet the conditions for preventing and combatingnetwork attacks.-VNS/VNA